student working on an art project
Photo by Caitlin Abrams (Catiesha Pierson); courtesy of Juxtaposition arts (Roger and Deanna, Juxta Labs student, Redwing boot, architectural rendering)
In 2018, Juxtaposition Arts felt some growing pains. North Minneapolis’s only Black-led arts organization of its kind had accomplished huge feats since its 1995 opening: teaching the principles of art and design to local youth, from color wheel and still life basics to nuanced aspects of graphic design; implementing a design apprenticeship program and paying hundreds of area teens actual paychecks for actual art-world work; and purchasing three buildings on Emerson and West Broadway to expand the nonprofit in 2004. But two-plus decades of success and growth demanded more space and updated facilities to mentor the next generation of artists, designers, architects, and community members.
So, three years ago, JXTA launched a $14 million capital campaign aimed at raising enough for a new campus and increased programming. The organization finally broke ground on the project this September.
“We want our neighbors to know that this is a resource for the neighborhood,” says JXTA co-founder and chief cultural producer Roger Cummings. “We’re hoping to create a legacy institution for the community.”
Chapter One
Roger and DeAnna Cummings
JXTA was founded by Northside artists Roger and DeAnna Cummings and Peyton Russell (who created the black-and-white mural of George Floyd on our July 2020 cover and left JXTA in 2005, later receiving a Bush Fellowship and founding Sprayfinger, a graffiti art education org). “Some of the things you see in JXTA now are things we were doing back then,” Cummings says. “We were doing murals, T-shirt printing, textile customization, graphic design, things like that. And younger people were always asking us how to price art or how to do certain techniques. So, we would show them.” Those mentorships turned into classes and camps, and, eventually, the more structured Juxtaposition Arts.
Local Celebrities
Catiesha Pierson
Catiesha Pierson
A few community members to pass through JXTA’s programming? Camdentown entrepreneur Houston White, The Dripping Root owner Catiesha Pierson, Red Wing Shoe Co. creative director Aaron Seymour-Anderson, and Minneapolis Ward 5 council member Jeremiah Ellison.
Collaboration Station
Red Wing boot
In the past few years, youth at JXTA have been able to work on real-world projects for real-world clients: a T-shirt design commission for the Twins, bench designs and prototypes for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, a line of Red Wing boots made specifically for artists, and a future Daunte Wright memorial in Brooklyn Center.
Work It Out
JXTA’s apprenticeship program, JXTALabs, gives people ages 14–21 a chance to work in facets of the arts they’re passionate about. Artists and designers mentor youth and young adults (when the new campus is built, 70 or more annually) in areas like urban planning, graphic design, textile arts, and more.
What’s Next
Juxtaposition Arts
The new campus, slated to open in late 2022, will combine all programs, labs, and classes into one sleek building (designed by the Black-owned architecture firm 4RM+ULA), with a JXTA youth–designed skate park outside, indoor/outdoor event space, and a new art gallery. “It’s going to make the neighborhood pop,” Cummings says.
